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Life in the ocean

Life in the ocean can be a lot more complicated than life on land. For land based, or terrestrial animals, we refer to the order of who eats who as a “food chain”. For example, a zebra grazes on grass which gets its energy from the sun, and a lion eats the zebra.

 

We refer to the flow of life in the ocean as a “food web” as the largest animals can feed on some of the smallest, skipping several steps. For example, a blue whale (the largest animal on earth!) feeds on tiny shrimp-like creatures known as krill.

Where do corals fit in?

Corals play a vital role of bringing energy from the sun into the ocean. Like plants, the zooxanthellae photosynthesize, creating food for the coral. Therefore they sit at the bottom of the food web.